


The Most Amazing Thing I Ever Did

by nagi_schwarz



Series: The Oppenheimer Effect [24]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: AU, Crossover, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-21
Updated: 2016-05-21
Packaged: 2018-06-09 21:41:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6924511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Multiverse, Any, "I'm too tired to move."</p><p>The men of Casa Atlantica might have a chance at something they all thought they'd never have a chance at.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Most Amazing Thing I Ever Did

Cam heaved himself onto the recliner and flopped back with a groan. “I’m too tired to move ever again. Leave me here to eat, to sleep, to die.”

“You’ll regret that in the morning when your back hurts,” Evan admonished, but he curled up beside Cam and rested his head on Cam’s shoulder with a yawn.

Rodney and John had retreated straight to John’s bedroom, bypassing the kitchen and den altogether. They were probably going to take advantage of the massive new bed the five men had spent all day wrangling into Rodney’s room.

“Whoever said it would be a good idea to chaperone a school dance the night before we embarked on an all-day home-improvement project should be court-martialed and shot,” Cam said.

Evan grunted and snuggled closer. “Skip the court-martial.”

JD sprawled out on the couch beside them, propping his feet up on Evan’s lap, and fired up the TV, scooped up his PS2 controller. “Give it a few hours. Rest. Take a warm bath. Maybe a shared bath. And then we can have ridiculously athletic sex on Cam’s still-superior bed.” He turned on Netflix and started perusing the queue. His ridiculous love of old-fashioned Star Trek would never stop being a source of amusement to the others. Star Trek, or The Simpsons?

“The soul is willing but the flesh is weak,” Evan said.

“You two aren’t that old,” JD began, and the doorbell rang.

“Tag, you’re it,” Evan said, pushing JD’s feet off his lap.

“Fine, fine. Grandpa.”

“Answer the door, whippersnapper,” Evan fired back without missing a beat.

JD paused to yank on his t-shirt before he went to the door. He didn’t think any of them were expecting visitors late on a Saturday afternoon, so he approached the door, wary for salesmen.

He peered through the window on the left side of the door and saw a woman, short, round-faced, with short curly hair and glasses and a bright smile. She was wearing some kind of employee badge, but he couldn’t quite read it. He opened the door. “Hello. Can I help you?”

“Hi, I’m Fiona Chapman, from the Department of Human Services Child Welfare Division.” She tapped her badge.

JD was immediately wary. Even though he’d been emancipated at fifteen, he’d still been a minor, and he’d spent a good long time dodging Child Welfare, because he wasn’t really a child, and there was no way in hell he was going into a foster home. “Hi, Fiona. There are no children in this household.”

“I know. I’m looking to speak to Cammie Mitchell, actually.”

JD raised his eyebrows. That she referred to him as ‘Cammie’ meant she’d heard about him from one of the students at school. Unlike Evan, who kept a running log of who was and wasn’t involved with Child Welfare services, JD couldn’t begin to guess which kid this was about, but an unfortunate number of their students had Child Welfare involvement.

“My client said Cammie’s paraplegic, so if you don’t want to do this on the doorstep -” Fiona began.

JD nodded. “Of course. Please, come in.” He turned and hollered over his shoulder, “Hey, make yourselves decent! We have company.” That was mostly for Rodney and John’s benefit, since they’d had elaborate plans to break in their new bed.

JD had had elaborate plans to fire up Netflix to drown them out.

“Okay,” John called back.

JD stepped back and gestured for Fiona to enter the house.

“So, how are you related to Cammie?” she asked.

“We’re roommates,” JD said.

Fiona nodded, filed that information away for later. JD led her through the kitchen and into the den where Evan and Cam were now sitting a respectful distance apart, Evan scrolling through their Netflix queue.

Fiona paused, hesitant. “Cammie Mitchell?”

“That would be me,” Cam said.

Fiona blinked.

“The students call me Cammie as a joke, which shall never be repeated.” Cam transferred himself into his wheelchair and wheeled over, offered a hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Chapman. How can we assist Child Welfare today?”

“Oh. Well, I - I’m the caseworker for one of your students, Tyler,” she said.

“Do you need the rest of us to leave?” Evan asked. “We can leave if you need some privacy. But we all do know Tyler. He’s a good kid.”

“That he is,” Fiona said, and smiled hesitantly. “Tyler’s parents have failed their reunification services, and Tyler is about ready to transition out of his foster home and into an independent living arrangement.”

JD raised his eyebrows. Tyler? Really? He was more responsible than a lot of their students, but he wouldn’t have put the kid in an apartment of his own any time soon.

“Once he’s stable in his independent living arrangement,” Fiona said, “we plan on closing our case, but we want all of our kids to have a sense of permanency. Tyler’s indicated that he doesn’t wish to maintain a relationship with his parents, and I’ve been unable to locate any other relatives for him.”

JD held up a hand for her to stop. “Back up. Explain this ‘permanency’ business.”

“Permanency as a concept is different for every child. For younger children, it’s adoption. For older kids, maybe permanent custody and guardianship with a relative, though adoption is the preferred option if the child is willing to be adopted. For someone Tyler’s age, it’s someone he can call for help, who he can come home to for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.” Fiona’s gaze turned distant for a moment, sad. “Kids don’t magically stop needing their families because they turn eighteen and are legally adults. Kids who age out of foster care and have no one to fall back on end up in jail or dead.”

“I thought they had access to services after they turned eighteen,” Evan said.

“They do, but most kids don’t reach out to us again. They’re tired of the system and done with us.” Fiona sighed.

“What can we do for Tyler?” Cam asked.

“When I talked to him, asked him about any adults in his life he trusted and cared about, he said his high school shop teacher, Cammie Mitchell. Only I thought you were -”

Cam huffed. “A woman.”

“He didn’t say anything about you having - roommates.” Fiona cast JD a look again.

“Yeah, actually, all of us are teachers at Memorial,” Cam said. “Well, JD’s a teacher’s aide until he goes to school to become an actual teacher.”

JD raised his eyebrows at Fiona and when he caught her gaze, flashed her a little smile.

Evan said, “Tyler’s always welcome here if he needs it, for food or a safe place to hang out.” He had a hesitant note in his voice. “He’s been here before for school activities.”

“What kinds of activities do you have here?” Fiona asked. She actually dug a notebook and pen out of her purse and flipped to a blank page, like a reporter.

“Well, the monthly Astronomy Bash, which JD is in charge of,” Cam said. “And sometimes kids who want help fixing their cars bring them over and I show them how it’s done, whether or not they’re in my shop class.”

“Is this everyone in the house?” Fiona scanned their faces, made a note.

“The only resident missing is John,” Evan said, “but his boyfriend Rodney comes over pretty often.”

Fiona raised her eyebrows at ‘boyfriend’ but said nothing.

“And Rodney’s cat, Oppenheimer.” JD wore an innocent expression when Cam cast him a sharp look. He called over his shoulder, “John, get in here!”

John appeared quickly, thankfully fully dressed and his hair no messier than usual. “What’s up? Oh, hello.” He offered Fiona a hand. “I’m John Sheppard.”

“John,” Cam said, “this is Fiona, Tyler’s caseworker.”

Fiona shook John’s hand.

“Caseworker,” John echoed. “Is Tyler all right?”

“He’s fine.” Fiona flashed him a smile. “I was just trying to find out some more about Cammie, here.”

“He actually goes by Cam,” John said. “The students have - a unique sense of humor.”

“Apologies. Cam.”

Cam waved her off.

“Cam can’t be a foster parent,” John said promptly. “He’s a terrible cook.”

“I am not a terrible cook,” Cam protested. “I’m just not as good as Evan.”

Fiona sighed. “Obviously there’s been some kind of mix-up. When I spoke to Tyler, he said you had a great home, that he felt like he could trust you and talk to you, and that he’d like you to be his permanency option, and if you were willing he’d want you to adopt him -”

“Adopt?” Cam echoed.

“He’s almost eighteen,” JD said numbly.

“Kids still have families and parents after they’re eighteen,” Fiona said, casting him a sharp look.

JD’s heart was thumping. Adopt a child. It was something he’d never even considered before The Divide, and he figured it was something he’d never be able to do now, not while he was so ‘young’, and his relationship with Cam and Evan would probably preclude that sort of thing.

John surprised them all by saying, “If I moved in with Rodney, he could have my room.”

Evan made a choking sound. “Excuse me, _what?_ ”

“If the whole room thing was an issue,” John said to Fiona. “I know foster homes are required to have specific numbers of rooms for the kids.”

“Whoa.” Cam held up a hand. “We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here.”

“Fiona,” Evan said gently, “can we talk to Tyler about this?”

“You could stay,” JD heard himself saying to John. “If we finally cleaned up the basement, Tyler could have his own place there.”

Cam, Evan, and John stared at him.

“Sounds like maybe you gentlemen have something to talk about,” Fiona said. “But yes, I will arrange a meeting for all of you, with Tyler. He was a little - oblique when I talked to him about all this. Maybe he’ll talk more openly to you.” She handed Cam a business card. “Call me to talk schedules, okay?”

“Okay,” Cam said. “JD, show her out?”

“Of course.” JD walked Fiona back to the front door.

She paused on the doorstep. “How did you end up here?”

“My folks died, and the state emancipated me,” he said. “Cam and Evan both served with my Uncle Jack in the Air Force. We happened upon each other kinda randomly. Cam was coming out of PT after his crash, Evan was coming down off the worst of his PTSD. We just - banded together. Us against the world.”

“And John?”

“John, Cam, and Evan were all in flight school together - rotor, fixed wing combat, and fixed wing transport respectively.”

“Do they take good care of you?”

“We take care of each other.”

Fiona studied him for a long moment, nodded, and headed for her car.

Back inside, Rodney had joined everyone else in the den.

“Adoption?” Rodney was asking. “Tyler’s that one kid who sent Evan into a PTSD tailspin at school?”

“That was an accident,” Evan said quietly. “There was no way he could have known.”

“He was wearing a mask he shouldn’t have.”

“It wasn’t the mask. Some kid wearing a Godzilla outfit without a mask might have done the same thing.” Evan scooted closer to Cam, curled his fingers through Cam’s and held on.

“Do you even want to do this?” Rodney ask.

Cam blinked. “I - don’t know. I never thought about kids. I mean - before the crash, I imagined maybe dating or marrying a woman, being bi and all, but then there was the crash, and now there’s JD and Evan, and I figured my parents would have to rely on my little brother for grandkids.”

“This would affect all of you,” Rodney said.

“All of us,” John corrected.

The five of them stared at each other.

“What do we do?” Evan asked.

“We think about it,” Cam said. “We talk to Tyler.”

“Everyone at school knows about me and Rodney,” John said. “No one knows about you three. That’s not something you’d be able to keep from Tyler.”

“Like I said - we think about it, and we talk to him.” Cam rolled his chair forward. “I need to go lie down.”

“I’ll come with you.” Evan rose up and followed him.

“You, too, JD,” Cam said.

JD hurried to turn off the TV and PS2 before he joined them in the bedroom.

In Cam’s room, they closed the door, stripped down to their boxers, and crawled into the bed, Cam in the middle, Evan curled against his side and listening to his heart, JD with his head on Cam’s other shoulder.

“Being a father was one of the most amazing things I ever did,” JD said softly. “And I fucked it up pretty badly. If you have the chance -”

Cam smoothed a hand over his hair. “We’ll think about it.”

“We will,” Cam agreed.

JD nodded against Cam’s skin, closed his eyes, and dreamed.


End file.
